The Appearance
by notnecessarilyinbetween
Summary: Only a week has past since the devastating events in Inner Demons, but now Natsume has to face not only an attack from the inside, but also one on one of his nearest friends. Sequel to Inner Demons.


Hello, sorry it has been so long, but I have finally caught my muse again. This is a sequel to Inner Demons, so you should read that one first! Anyway, thank you for your patience, nothing belongs to me except the plot, and please enjoy The Appearance.

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><p>Tanuma watched as Natsume waited by the school gates. He was slouched over and leaning against the wall, his face turned down so Tanuma couldn't see if he was awake. His head nodded forward and he suddenly straightened as Ponta jumped down from the wall beside him onto his shoulder. They went off together and Tanuma sighed in relief. He turned away from the window and also left the campus. As he trudged towards his home, his mind went back to that day just a week ago when Natsume was lying on the floor, not moving,not even breathing. He took a deep breathe and kept moving forward. It would be a lie to say that Tanuma wasn't worried, but he knew Natsume did not want him to worry, so he tried to hide it. Taki and him had been keeping a close eye on Natsume since that date, even asking him to make sure that Ponta was with him when he went home.<p>

Natsume had just stayed quiet, he nodded and smiled a little, but otherwise he seemed to try to avoid Tanuma and Taki. Tanuma had struggled with why Natsume was doing that, but after about three days he came up with two solutions. Either Natsume wanted to protect them from the youkai, or he was afraid of their reactions. Tanuma's fingers found their way into his pocket, and grasped at a small charm on a necklace. He had gotten it back after the… fight, but he had promised Natsume that he wouldn't wear it unless he needed to. "Back when he would talk to us" Tanuma mumbled into the wind. It was only seven, but it was already starting to get dark, and over the pass few days a low mist had come in in the evening, cloaking everything in a shadow so it looked much darker even earlier. Tanuma entered his home, which was quiet as his dad was away again, and set up making some dinner. The nagging feeling in his mind wouldn't stop though, the one that wanted to act. He paced over to the phone, and dialed the familiar number.

Ringing

Ringing

"Hello, this is the Fujiwara Residence"

"Hello Mrs. Fujiwara, this is Tanuma, is Natsume there?"

"Oh, Tanuma-kun, yes, I will call him down for you, please wait a moment."

"Thank you" Tanuma replied, but he knew that she wasn't listening as she had already started calling for Takashi.

A few seconds and a large thump later a different voice was on the line.

"Tanuma, is something wrong?" Natsume sounded rushed an out of breathe, and Tanuma felt his insides clench.

"No, no nothing is wrong Natsume, everyone is fine, I was just wondering if you would like to come over tomorrow," He was going to stop there, but in the spur of the moment he quietly added on, " I would really like to talk with you."

The other side was quiet for a while then "Sure, I guess, I know we need to talk."

There was silence after that once again, but Tanuma broke through, "So I will see you tomorrow," he kept his voice light, trying to calm Natsume down, and it seemed to work because Natsume's reply was also calm "Yeah, see you Tanuma."

Tanuma sighed after the phone had clicked off, and smiled a little bit. He wasn't used to reaching out to people, to friends, and he felt a little color coming to his cheeks in pride that he could at least talk with someone. He sat down to eat his warmed up food, and made sure that he would have time to get some snacks before Natsume came over, because he believed they might have to talk for a while.

…

Natsume had stared at the phone for a few moments after saying goodbye, then he walked back upstairs to fall on his mattress.

"So tired" he mumbled into the pillow. Youkai kept coming up day after day, and he was still exhausted from whatever had happened a week ago. He once again tried to remember that day, but it was all smudges and blurs. He huffed into the pillow and tried not to fall asleep.

Sensei came in fifteen minutes later, and curled up under Natsume's arm. Natsume shifted a little bit, but otherwise stayed fast asleep.

…

"Sensei, wake up if you are coming to Tanuma's it is already late," a loud and jarring voice shouted seemingly right into Madara's ear.

"Idiot Natsume," Madara rolled over and stretched, " Why would I come with you to your friends house?"

"I'm bringing manju as a present, so we need to leave now," was the much quieter response that was accompanied by the sound of footsteps down the stairs.

"Manju? Wait for me Natsume!"

…

Natsume stood outside the main gate to Tanuma's house, manju in one hand, Nyanko-sensei on his other shoulder. He was about to move forward when he heard a shout form behind him,

"Oi, Natsume, you're early."

Tanuma came up from behind them, also holding a large bag.

"Snacks" he said, but then faltered as he saw they both had the same packaging.

A smile spread across his face and Natsume found it contagious and also began to smile.

"Oh well, more for sensei, I guess" Natsume replied as he started to follow Tanuma into his house.

"Yeah, so…" Tanuma struggled to talk as they sat down, "I… I mean Taki and I, we…"

Tanuma breathed in and started again, "Why have you been avoiding us? I mean, you still are talking and all, but we have noticed that you try not to be with us ever since… even your other friends, you haven't been really talking with anyone… and I am worried about you." Tanuma breathed in, his face going beet red as he realized he had blurted all of that out.

Natsume's eyes had widened a little bit, but Tanuma saw as his fake smile replaced his shock, "You don't need to worry about me Tanuma, I am making sure that nothing like that will-"

"It isn't that, well I mean, that is good but," Tanuma staring straight into Natsume's eyes, "I don't know whether you think you can protect us by not being with us, or if you… if you don't trust us enough to, that you think that we will leave you just because you have some of the powers of a youkai!"

Nyanko-sensei stared intently at Tanuma, though he was still busy eating his third manju, but Tanuma didn't notice, he was still looking at Natsume.

Natsume was shocked at Tanuma's sudden vehemence, usually he was subdued, "This must have been bothering him for a while," Natsume thought, then he squirmed a bit. He opened his mouth to try to lie, but saw the look in Tanuma's eyes. He sighed and dropped his head, barely speaking over a whisper.

"I can't let you get into trouble just because you know me," Natsume stared blankly at the hands folded in his lap, trying to hold back his emotions, "If you are with me, you will probably get hurt, so I thought that…"

"No, Natsume," Natsume looked up as he heard a smile in Tanuma's voice, " We don't care, yes maybe sometimes it is dangerous, but I wont let you just push me away because of that, and maybe I'm selfish, but it isn't going to happen."

A small grin falteringly spread over his face as well, but stopped when he remembered the second part of what Tanuma had asked. His hands shook a little and he clasped them together. Suddenly he felt Tanuma's hand on his shoulder. Natsume looked up to see Tanuma next to him with a stoic expression on his face.

"We don't care," Tanuma smiled again, and offered Natsume one of the few manju left, "You're still Natsume, we don't care."

Natsume ducked his head and hid his face, but it didn't stop Tanuma from seeing a few small drops fall from his face.

Natsume and Tanuma spent the rest of the day talking and exploring, though Nyanko-sensei left half way in to go drink some sake with Mitsuzu. They went down to meet the C-listers and they also managed to run into Hinoe again. Natsume left with a smile on his face, ignoring the fog and the dark nights, only thinking about how he might have finally found a place where he could belong, no matter what had happened.

Unfortunately, he also ended up not sensing the large youkai presence that had been following him during the afternoon, and was now staying within the boundaries of Tanuma's house.

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><p>I will try to update as much as I can, so I hope you enjoy! ~ not necessarily in between<p> 


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